The FIA has issued a statement this afternoon calling an extraordinary meeting of the sport's governing body in respect of the recent allegations in a British tabloid newspaper and the subsequent fall-out.

The statement read:

"The President of the FIA has requested the President of the FIA Senate to call an Extraordinary General Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the FIA statutes.

The full membership of the FIA will be invited to attend the meeting at which the widespread publicity following an apparently illegal invasion of the FIA President’s privacy will be discussed.

The FIA has noted that Mr Mosley is preparing legal proceedings against the newspaper in question.

It is anticipated that the meeting will take place in Paris. It will be held on the earliest practicable date. No further comment will be made by the FIA regarding the matter at this stage."

The meeting - an obvious move - follows statements issued earlier today by four leading manufacturers in F1, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Honda.

Having previously said that he remains committed to the FIA and intends continuing in his role, the saga took a further downturn today when Mosley issued a private statement which appeared to cast aspersions on both the German manufacturers, referring to their roles in (Nazi) history.

While Mosley claims to have received widespread support, nobody has, as yet, gone public. This is seen by some F1 insiders as being because to support Mosley at this time would be seen as condoning his actions, which, in view of the very nature of the allegations could be very damaging.

The longer the saga drags on the more damage will be done, consequently some insiders are hoping that Bernie Ecclestone might seize the initiative and urge his friend and ally to stand down.

That said, Mosley shows no sign of surrendering, far from it.